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Book. 



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OliATJOX 



N T H E ]) E A T n j, ^(^ 

OK 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

Sixteenth Tresident of (lie I'liitcd ?tates, 
DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

CITIZENS OF GETTYSIU'EG, PA., 

JLNE 1, 1S65. 

Pastor of the Presbyterian Church. 






GETTYSBURG: 

AUGIIINBAUGH & WIBLE, BOOK & JOB PRINTERS, 

Cliaiiibersbitrg Pireet, near Corner of West. 

1865. 
-J 



ORATION 

ON THE DEATH 



OP 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 

Sixteentli President of the United States, 
DELIVERED BEFORE THE 

CITIZENS OF GETTYSBURG, PA., 

JUNE 1, 1865. 

Pastor of the Fresbyteriau Church. 



'^^•f--^^W^%**^-'^^^" 



GETTYSBURG: 

3LE, B 
reet, neai 

1865. 



AUGHINBAUGH & WIBLE, BOOK & JOB PRINTERS, 

Chainbersburg Street, near Corner of West. 



ORATION. 



Fellow Citizens: — 

That was no ordinary event which hath wrought 
such a sudden and painful change in the emotions of 
the loyal people of this great Republic ; — which, 
sweeping away all lines of party distinction, has 
blended all hearts in a common sentiment of grief. 
A few weeks ago, these hearts were filled with rap- 
turous delight; cheers upon cheers rent the air; 
banners were flung to the breeze ; merry bells sent 
forth their glad peals; grand national salutes made 
the welkin ring ; and staid, sober men embraced each 
other as they met, and wept tears of joy, because of 
the signal triumphs with which God had blessed the 
national arms over the rebel forces, and in the pros- 
pect of a speedy return of peace to our bleeding 
land. And all nature seemed to be in harmony with 
our hearts, for never did opening Spring look more 
lovely, nor the smiling sun beam forth more cheer- 
ingly, nor go down into the chambers of the west 
with brighter promise of a coming glorious day, than 
on Friday the 14th of April last. But in a night 



all is suddenly changed. Abraham Lincoln, the 
twice chosen and beloved representative of our 
national sovereignty, in the height of a glorious 
career of usefulness to his country and to mankind, 
winning the applause of his countrymen and the 
admiration of the civilized world, is cut down by the 
foul hand of an assassin. 

In a place of public amusement, and in the pre- 
sence of more than a thousand citizens, the murder- 
er, with all the cunning deliberation of an arch- 
fiend, obtains stealthy access to his presence while 
sitting by the side of his wife and two personal 
friends, accomphshes his wicked purpose, repeats a 
motto in which he brands his noble victim as a ty- 
rant, and before any one could realize what was 
done, makes his escape. The President is assassin- 
ated ! — is the startling cry of horror which pierces 
every heart and blanches every countenance in the 
capital of the nation ; and, borne on the wings of 
the lightning, it penetrates every domicile in the 
land, and awakens the bitterest anguish, mourning, 
and woe. And, as if in sympathy with our hearts, 
the face of nature assumes an air of sadness, and 
weeps with them that weep. 

Never, in the history of the world, was a more 
fiendish crime perpetrated. It was a death-blow 
aimed at the life of the nation, at liberty, free gov- 
ernment, and the dearest interests of mankind. Its 
enormity bafiles description, and fills us with a hor- 



ror and agitation words cannot express. Mourn, O 
Columbia ! mourn the shocking event that has bereft 
thee of thy beloved Chief, thy patriotic, wise, hon- 
est, incorruptible, noble hearted, mild and forgiving, 
yet firm ruler — the Saviour of his country ! Is there 
in all the land a man so base (I will not say, as to 
exult, but) as not to mourn over this appalling cal- 
amity? If there is, 

"I would rather be a dog, 
And bay the moon, than such an American." 

Every good citizen, whose moral sensibilities have 
not been perverted or blunted by some unworthy 
bias, feels that the death of President Lincoln is not 
only a great national loss, but a personal bereave- 
ment ; and that Treason displayed its true Satanic 
spirit, and struck its foulest blow at the best interests 
of our common country in perpetrating his assassin- 
ation. He was the people's friend and servant. He 
was elevated from their midst to be their Chief Mag- 
istrate, and lost none of his fellow feeling and warm 
sympathy for them by his promotion. The highest 
position in the nation, did not elevate him so high 
above the general level of society, as to remove 
him from all the ordinary sympathies of our nature. 
He was accessible and affable to all who sought his 
presence. His large, generous, honest heart ever 
beat responsive to the interests of all the inhabi- 
tants of the land and indicated the deepest concern 
in their welfare. Their good was his aim and heart's 



8' 

desire ; and their happiness his happiness. For his 
country he lived, and for his country — his whole 
country he died. And now, that a general wail of 
Avoe throughout the land reveals the depth of the 
nation's grief, we can estimate their sense of public 
and private loss, and the strength and steadfastness 
of the nation's loyalty. Party questions, political 
misunderstandings, and the exciting contests of men 
over them, which led our foulest and bitterest ene- 
mies to say exultingly of our government, that, torn 
by factions, it was going rapidly to dissolution ; all 
this has in an instant disappeared under the wave of 
distress which sweeps over the land. Look at the 
vast population of the loyal States now, when in one 
great and calamitous visitation, the feeling of parti- 
san animosity is overborne, and when all over the 
land there is an outburst of unparalleled grief, and 
tell me is it possible that these can be other than 
honest tears .'' Who does not see in this the evi- 
dence that the people, notwithstanding their party 
differences are sound at heart ; and that herein, un- 
der the blessing of God, lies the pledge of our 
national safety amid all the difficulties which may 
threaten us.^ 

Abraham Lincoln — who, though of humble birth 
and limited advantages, had, by the force of native 
talent, risen from comparative obscurity to a com- 
manding position and influence among his fellow- 
men — was providentially called to the Chief Exec- 



9 

Qtive Chair ot this great nation, at a time the most try- 
ing in our history. Treason liad already perfected its 
dark plot tor the dismemberment of the Union, and 
was training its armed bands for the work of blood 
and desolation, necessary to carry out its fell designs. 
State after State, under the management of fanati- 
cal dema<>;oo;ues, and in bold defiance of the will of 
the majority, was hurled into the vortex of revolu- 
tion. The patriots of the South were either exiled, 
or crushed to the earth, by a tyranny as hard-hearted 
and cruel as ever made man to mourn. Treason 
soon developed itself mto armed and organized re- 
bellion of gigantic proportions, and with parricidal 
heart aimed its deadly weapons against a govern- 
ment that was always kind and forbearing, and never 
unjust or oppressive. Acquiring nerve and boldness 
with its advance and development, it soon presented 
a belligerent aspect and martial tread which defied 
all opposition, and made the pillars of our national 
fabric to tremble to their foundations. It was not 
only rebellion in the South, but treason in the Cap- 
itals and in the adjoining State on the North, that 
threatened the nation's life, and which rendered the 
Chief Magistracy an office of awful responsibility, 
and of peculiar peril. It was in these trying cir- 
cumstances, that he entered upon the Presidency. 
And never did a Magistrate more honestly and faith- 
fully endeavor to discharge the solemn and momen- 
tous duties which devolved upon him. 



10 

On leaving his home m Springfield, Illinois, for 
Washington City, a large concourse of citizens had 
assembled at the depot to witness his departure, 
whom, with deep emotion he briefly addressed •, and 
among other things said : "My friends, no one 
not in -my position can appreciate the sadness I fee! 
at this parting. A duty devolves upon me which is 
perhaps greater than that which has devolved upon 
any other man since the days of Washington. He 
never could have succeeded except for the aid of 
Divine Providence, upon which he at all times re- 
lied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same 
Divine aid which sustained him ; and in the same 
Almighty Being I place my reliance for support ; and 
I hope that you, my friends, will all pray that I may 
receive that Divine assistance, without which I can- 
not succeed, but with which success is certain." 

The prayers not only of his immediate friends 
and neighbors, but of all well-wishers of their coun- 
try, were offered in his behalf, and were answered. 
He was endowed with a spirit of exalted patriotism, 
of conscientiousness, prudence, forbearance, firm- 
ness, and devotion to truth and righteousness, which 
qualified him in an eminent manner for his responsi- 
ble position. An intense desire to perpetuate the 
union, integrity, prosperity and happiness of his be- 
loved country, became the ruling passion of his soul. 
Unambitious, he pursued no interest of his own 
apart from the general good of the nation. He con- 



11 

suited the rights of the people, and of the respec- 
tive States, as well as of the General Government, 
and meditated no invasion of the rights of either ; 
and claimed no powers but such as were granted 
him by the Constitution. Peaceable in his nature 
and public aim ; tender of the life and blood and 
rights of man ; having no ambition to gratify, and 
no personal wrongs to avenge, he resolved to exer- 
cise the power vested in him to maintain the author- 
ity of the national Government unimpaired, to de- 
fend the rights of the people, and to restrain, and, if 
necessary, chastise the disturbers of the public tran- 
fjuility. It was in this noble spirit he addressed the 
instigators of rebellion on the occasion of his first 
inauguration : — "I shall take care, as the Constitu- 
tion expressly enjoins upon me, that the laws of the 
Union shall be faithfully executed in all the States. 
— I trust this will not be regarded as a menace, but 
only as the declared purpose of the Union, that it 
will constitutionally defend and maintain itself Such 
of you as are dissatisfied, still have the old Consti- 
tution unimpau'ed, and on the sensitive point, the 
the laws of your own framing under it ; while the 
new administration will have no immediate power, if 
it would, to change either. In your hands, my dis- 
satisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in mine, is the 
momentous issue of civil war. The Government 
will not assail you. You can have no conflict with- 
out bein^ yourselves the aggressors. You have no 



12 

oath registered in Heaven to destroy the Govern- 
nient; while I shall have the most solemn one to 
'preserve, protect, and defend it."'' 

The war for the Union was forced upon him ; and 
in humble but firm reliance on Almighty God, and 
the righteousness of his cause, he girded himself 
and the nation for the terrible conflict. "Never," 
said Rev. Dr. Gurley in his funeral sermon delivered 
over the corpse in the Presidential Mansion — 
"Never shall I forget the emphasis and deep emo- 
tion with which he said in this very room to a com- 
pany of clergymen and others, who called to pay 
him their respects in the darkest days of our civil 
conflict : 'Gentlemen, my hope of success in this 
great and terrible struggle rests on that immutable 
foundation — the justice and goodness of God ^ and 
when events are very threatening, and prospects very 
dark, I still hope that in some way, which man can- 
not see, all will be well in the end, because our cause 
is just and God is on our side.' " This hope was 
the sheet-anchor of his soul, sure and steadfast, 
which held him firm and unmoved amid all the surg- 
ings and dashings of the angry waves of rebellion, 
in the darkest and most tempestuous night of our 
adversity. It inspired him with a moral heroism 
which made him equal to any emergency, and ena- 
bled him to brave all dangers and rise superior to 
all discouragements, when others were fearful and 
desponding. And it gave him a firmness of purpose, 



13 

a patient perseverance in tlie path of duty, and ar* 
assnrance of ultimate success, which nothing could 
sliake or destroy. 

He endeavored, through the whole of his Presi- 
dential career, to discover and understand the lead- 
ings of Providence. And whenever he could hear 
the great Ruler of the nations saying, with reference 
to any line of policy, this is the way, walk thou in it — 
he unhesitatingly obeyed, without regard to the fav- 
or or the frown of men. It was in obedience to tlie 
dictate of Providence as he understood it —and I 
have no doubt he understood it aright that he is- 
sued his ever memorable emancipation proclamation, 
whereby 4,000,000 of human beings were liberated 
from the shackles of slavery, and transferred from 
the aid of the rebellion to the help of the Govern- 
ment:— a proclamation, which, tiiongh at lirst by 
many regarded as somewhat questionable, both as to 
its propriety and expediency, is now almost univer- 
sally regarded as eminently wise and proper, and 
imperatively demanded by the times; and as having 
contributed more than any other measure to the 
speedy overthrow of the great rebellion. Such a 
measure, he declared had not entered his mind as 
either wise, or proper, or necessary, when he assum- 
ed the reins of government; and was only adopted 
after Providence, by the irresistible logic of events, 
had educated both the people and himself up to its 
high necessity and righteousness. I'his proclama- 



14 

tion inaugurated a new era in the national struggle ; 
flashed new light across the Atlantic with regard to 
the relative status of the contending parties, and 
gave cheer to the friends of good government at 
home. It placed in broader light the fact, that the 
rebelhon originated in the interest of slavery, and 
had for its object its extension and perpetuation de- 
spite the will of the majority, and even at the sacri- 
fice of the nation's life ; and of course, that the 
speediest and best way to crush the revoh, was by 
eradicating its mischievous cause. It was an act of 
splendid statesmans-hip, which has won for its author 
the enviable cognomen — The Great Liberator — and 
will make his name live throuoh all comiui]; time as 
the benefactor of his age, and a blessing 1o the hu- 
man race. 

In his efforts to suppress the rebellion, and in di- 
recting our domestic and foreign affairs, involving at 
times, as they did, the most complex and ditiicult 
questions, he displayed a wisdom, a prudence, a pen- 
etration, a breadth of view, and a magnanimity, 
which, if equaled, have never been surpassed by any 
other ruler m ancient or in modern times. Even the 
journalists of Europe, who at first sneered at his 
capacity to grasp and master the momentous ques- 
tions of the day, and cope with the wily power of 
the rebellion, had learned not only to regard him 
with respect, but even to admire his wonderful ad- 
ministrative ability. The London Spectator, an ably 



15 

conducted newspaper, has, in the number for March 
25tli, an elaborate article on the public character of 
Mr. Lincoln. It does not scruple to compare liim 
to Washington in some respects, or to pronounce, 
tliat, with a more difiicult task, he has reached a no 
less honorable success. After referring to the ani- 
mated eulogium on Gen. Washington which Lord 
Macaulay passed parenthetically, in his essay on 
Hampden, it says : "If that high eulogium was fully 
earned, as it was, by the first great President of the 
United States, we doubt if it has not been as well 
earned by the Illinois peasant proprietor and vil- 
lage lawyer, whom, by some divine inspiration or pro- 
vidence, the Republican caucus of I860 substituted 
for Mr. Seward as their nominee for the President's 
chair. Without the advantao^es of Washini^ton's 
education or training, Mr. Lincoln was called from 
an humble station at the opening of a mighty civil 
war, to form a government out of a party in which 
the habits and traditions of official life did not exist. 
Finding himself the object of Southern abuse so 
fierce and so foul, that in any man less passionless it 
would long ago have stirred up an implacable ani- 
mosity ; mocked at for his official awkwardness, and 
denounced for his steadfast policy ; tried by years of 
failure, before that policy achieved a single great suc- 
cess ; further tried by a series of successes so rapid 
and brilliant that they would have puffed up a smaller 
mind and overset its balance 5 embarrassed by the 



16 

boastfiilness of his people and his subordinates, no 
Jess than by his own inexperience in his relations 
with foreign States ; beset by fanatics of principle, 
on one side, who would pay no attention to his obli- 
gations as a constitutional ruler ; and by fanatics of 
caste, on the other, who were not only deaf to the 
claims of justice, but would hear of no policy large 
enough for a revolutionary emergency — Mr. Lincoln 
has perscAcred through all, without ever giving way 
to anger, or despondency, or exultation, or popular 
arrogance, or sectarian fanaticism, or caste prejudice, 
visibly growing in force of character, in self-posses- 
sion, and in magnanimity, till, in his second inaugu- 
ral Address on the 4th of March, we can detect no 
longer the rude and illiterate mould of a village law- 
yer"'s thought, but find it replaced by a grasp of prin- 
ciple, a dignity of manner, and a solemnity of pur- 
pose, which would have been unworthy neither of 
Hampden nor of Cromwell, while his gentleness and 
generosity of feeling towards his foes, are almost 
greater than we should expect from either of them." 

Who would have expected such a glowing eulogy 
from an English journal ? It does honor alike to its 
author and its subject, and places, in its true light, 
the illustrious character of that great civil Magistrate 
whose cruel death we mourn. 

Oh ! never was a noble motto more foully mis- 
applied, than was that on the Virginia coat of arms, 
"Sic semper tyrannis," thus be it ever with tyrants — 



n 

by the diabolical assassin to Abraham Lincoln. He 
a tyrant ! Then is the mild, gentle, long-snffering, 
and forgiving father, a tyrant. He a tyrant ! Then 
is the Benefactor of his age and blessing to his race, 
a tyrant He a tyrant ! Then is the Deliverer and 
Saviour of his country a tyrant. No ! His error 
lay on the side of mercy, rather than on the side of 
severity, in the exercise of his otiicial authority ; in 
extending too great leniency not only towards the 
authors and active agents of the rebellion, but to 
those, who, while they enjoyed the protection of the 
government, were in avow^ed sympathy with its dead- 
ly foes, and giving them all the moral aid and com- 
fort in their power, and were capable of plotting his 
own destruction and that of his Cabinet. It was 
his consciousness of entire freedom from malice and 
vindictiveness, that made him feel a personal security 
even among his bitterest foes, and which eventually 
cost him his life. Ah ! his enemies, and the enemies 
of the country, knew not what they are doing, when, 
by the wicked hands of a mercenary villain, they as- 
sassinated President Lincoln. He was their best 
friend, disposed to extend to them greater leniency 
and a fuller pardon than they could expect. But, 
"whom God would destroy, he first makes mad." 

God, in great goodness to the nation, having spar- 
ed him to see the power of the rebellion crushed, 
and the forts and arsenals wrested from the Govern- 
ment four years ago, rc-possessed ; — until Richmond, 



18 

the capital and stronghold of the would-be ConfeJ 
eracy had fallen, and Lee and his once boasted in- 
vincible army had surrendered; — until the voice of 
the turtle was beginning to be heard in the land, and 
the dawning of a bright dav of peace was beginning 
to dispel the gloom of war; — and until he had just 
completed a plan of rehabilitation on terms the most 
magnanimous; — God, having spared him thus to see 
his Herculean labors on the eve of being crowned 
with complete success, — to look back upon the evils 
of the past as all gone forever, and forward to that 
state of peace, prosperity, and happiness which lay 
before him, as the reward of his toils, and the hap- 
py term of his anxiety, most mysteriously permitted 
him to be cut down by the hand of a fiendish assas- 
sin. O. how are the mighty fallen ! Well may the 
nation as it staggers under the blow, exclaim vvith 
Elisha, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, 
and the horsemen thereof!" 

O ye enemies of your country and mine, was it 
not enough that ye had convulsed the land with fratri- 
cidal war — that ye had desolated once prosperous 
►States and happy homes — that ye had sacrificed 
the lives of 500,000 men — the flower of the land 
— upon the field of battle, and tortured and starved 
50,000 more in pens, and prisons, and dungeons, by 
a system of refined cruelty which defies the world 
for a parallel — must ye cap the climax of wicked- 
ness, and superadd to all the bloody slaughter which 



19 

has held high carnival throughout the land, the dia- 
bolical crime of assassination ! The moving spring 
of the infernal conspiracy to cut off not only the 
President, but his Cabinet, and some of the promin- 
€nt officials in the nation, lay deep down in the 
€ause of the rebellion. The conspiracy was its na- 
tural remoter development, and was approved, if not 
matured by the Richmond Junta, and was the astound- 
ing event by which they intended to startle the 
world; its executors being only the mercenary agents 
of a power which authorized or approved of the 
starving of prisoners of war — of the burning of 
Chambersburg and the attempt to burn New York 
— of the robbery and murder at St. Albans, and the 
massacre at Fort Pillow — and of the attempt by 
means of infected clothino;, to '-unbar the ijates of 
the pestilence" in our northern cities. Oh, the bar- 
barism of American slavery ! Oh, the Satanic vil- 
lanies it engenders ! Oh, the Pandemonium of its 
councils ! Oh, the terrible diabolism of its conspir- 
acies and its deeds ! The rebellion, which was 
avowedly begun and carried on in its interest, and 
which has culminated in the assassination of the 
Chief Magistrate of the nation, has demonstrated 
what the conservative element in the land was slow 
to admit, that, in the language of John Wesley, 
^"It is the sum of all villanies." But thanks be 
to God, it has run its course. In its mad ambition 
to ndc or niui the nation, it has destroyed itself, 



20 

and brought ruin and disgrace upon its lovers and 
friends. 

O Lincoln! Lincoln! who would not rather be 
what thou art, a martyr to thy country, followed to 
thy grave by weeping millions in whose hearts thy 
memory is everlastingly embalmed, and honored by 
all civilized nations of the earth as no mortal man 
was honored before ; than the living head of the 
rebellion, with his assassin's heart and hands of 
blood, and the curses of widows and orphans on 
his head, at one time wandering like Cain, a fugitive 
and a vagabond in the earth, and finally captured 
while attempting to escape the hand of justice in a 
female garb ? Ordinarily, "a living dog is better 
than a dead lion ;" but in this case, the dead lion is 
better than the living doo. 

But the work assigned our illustrious President by 
Divine Providence, was finished, and 

"His hour of murtyrdom 
In freedom's sacred cause bad come: 
And, though his life hath passed away 
Like lightning on a stormy day, 
Yet shall his death-hour leave a track 
Of glory, permanent and brijiht." 

His sun went down while it was yet noon, in the full 
blaze of his glory, while his eye was not yet dim nor 
his natural force abated. He was snatched away 
when apparently he had reached the zenith of a vir- 
tuous, successful, and glorious career — when his emi- 
nent qualities as a great Ruler were most fully de- 



21 

veloped — when blushing honors were thickest upon 
him — when he was more beloved and idolized by the 
American people, than any other man since the days 
of Washington ; and when the civilized world had 
learned to appreciate his pre-eminent worth and 
ability, and delighted to accord to him the highest 
meed of praise. 

President Lincoln, was a man of strong faith in 
God as the rig-hteous Governor of the universe. It 
was this that supported and assured him in the dark 
and trying times of our nation's struggle, and inspir- 
ed him with a hope which nothing could shake or 
destroy of the ultimate triumph of truth over error, 
and of right over wrong. It was this which led him 
not only to request the prayers of the people, but 
also to pray himself, that he might be divinely sus- 
tained and guided in his administration of public 
affairs ; and that the cause of the Government, 
which was the cause of righteousness and humanity, 
might be made triumphant over all opposition. He 
not only labored^ he prayed for the good of his coun- 
try ; and here was the hiding of his power, and the 
secret of his success. 

Fellow Citizens, If you expected an eulogy on 
this occasion, you are doomed to disappointment. 
I cannot eulogize the incomparable Lincoln. His 
glory is above my eulogy. His eulogy has already 
been pronounced in tones of melting eloquence by 
the sighs and groans wrung from millions of hearts 



22 

oppressed with jTrief at their irreparable loss, in the 
land he loved so well ; and the grand dirge has roll- 
ed across the Atlantic and bowed the civilized world 
in sackcloth and in tears. Eulogize the immortal 
Lincoln ! His noble deeds and heroic virtues speak 
his praise. He who 

"Has won the br.ttle for the free/' 

and rescued an oppressed and down -trodden race 
from the heel of the great Destroyer, has written 
his own epitaph in the hearts of a redeemed people, 
and all over the broad land which he saved from 
ruin; and his best eulogy will be heard in 

'"The thanks of millions yet to be. 

Lincoln ! with the storied brave 
Thy country nurtured in her glory's time, 
Rest thee — there is no prouder grave, 

Even in her own proud clime. 
Thou art Freedom's now, and Fame's, 
One of the few, the immortal names, 

That were not born to die." 

But though our great and noble Chief Magistrate 
has been foully smitten down in death, the Republic 
still lives: — lives, without any diminution of its vital 
energies, without any deviation from its onward 
course: — lives, a demonstration to the world that a 
Government founded in the hearts of the people, 
and on the broad principle of equal rights, is not 
dependent for its permanency, upon the life of any 
man who may fill its highest office. That God, who 
made our late President the mighty instrument of 



23 

our deliverance from tlireatened anarchy, wills that 
the nation shall not die, but from a higher vantage 
giound, and animated with new life, and clothed with 
new power go forth to the achievement of more 
glorious triumphs for his name's sake and humani- 
ty's sake, in times to come. May the God of our 
fathers, and our nation's God, the God who hath 
preserved us all our life long, and given us the vic- 
tory over the most gigantic rebellion the world ever 
saw, be our Rock, and Refuge, and Glory still. 

And shall all the lessons of the past be lost upon 
us ? Shall the immense treasure that has been ex- 
pended, and the torrents of blood that have been 
shed, and the valuable lives that have been sacrificed 
upon the altar of their country, be all for nought? 
Shall God's judgments be abroad in the land and the 
inhabitants thereof not learn righteousness ? Shall 
it be, that, though in the fiery furnace through which 
we have passed there was visible the form of the 
Son of God, we have come forth from the flames 
unharmed to be as forgetful of our Preserver and 
Sovereign as ever ? Forbid it Heaven ! Let us 
labor and pray that our trials may issue in our na- 
tional exaltation and improvement ; and in the mak- 
ing our land, Immanucrs land. Shall the spirits of 
our martyred patriots, from that of the lately mur- 
dered Chief, down to that of the humblest starved 
soldier, call in vain upon their surviving fellow citi- 
zens to rise to a higher appreciation of their national 



^4 

advantages and citizen privileges, and never to risk 
for one moment on visionary theories the substantial 
blessings of their lot ? 8hall they call upon us in 
vain, to love our country next to our God ; to rever- 
ence and obey lawful authority, and make loyalty to 
the Government and genuine patriotism, essential 
elements of our virtue, our religion, and whatever 
we esteem most sacred ? Oh no ! If we be true 
to our God, and true to ourselves and to the fair 
heritage they bequeathed us, they shall not call in 
vain. 

And if the blood they shed in the holy cause of 
righteousness, humanity and God, shall serve to 
erase any dark stain of dishonor from our national 
escutcheon, and cement the Union in more indisso- 
luble bonds than ever: — if every blood-stained bat- 
tle-field and patriot-grave all over the land shall 
serve to intiame us with a deeper abhorrence of 
every spirit of lawlessness and insubordination, and 
inspire us with a purer and subhmcr patriotism — a 
patriotism which, soaring toward heaven, shall rise 
above all mean, low, selfish, and party considerations, 
and make God and our country the great objects of 
life ; and prompt to deeds of self-sacrifice, of valor, 
and of devotion even unto death itself for every 
high and noble principle which tends to the glory of 
God and our country — then, the mighty host of 
patriot-martyrs, headed by Abraham Lincoln, will 
not have died in vain. 



LB S '12 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



01 1 839 298 A 



